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JERUSALEM – On the road to the soon-to-open U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, groundskeepers planted red, white and blue flowers underneath American and Israeli flags for Monday's inauguration of the controversial new location that has sparked Palestinian outrage.

For all the commotion over President Trump's decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv, the operation involves few changes to the U.S. consular compound in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Arnona — other than new street signs and a plaque marking the status change of the stone building.

The move’s initial phase includes relocating U.S. Ambassador David Friedman and a small staff to the Arnona site, modifying the compound for his future office and additional security. Total cost: about $400,000, the embassy said.

Most of the 850 embassy workers in Tel Aviv will not move to Jerusalem until a new building is constructed, which could take up to nine years. American consular services such as issuing visas will continue at the Arnona site.

About 800 guests are likely to attend Monday’s ceremony, including members of Congress. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan will lead the U.S. delegation, along with Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and adviser; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; and U.S. Middle East peace envoy Jason Greenblatt, the White House said this week.

A photo taken April 30, 2018, shows excavators in Israel working near the U.S. consulate, which will be used as a temporary new U.S. Embassy starting on May 14, 2018.(Photo: Thomas Coex, AFP/Getty Images)

The residential neighborhood is lined with American flags and dotted with patrolling police and security guards.

Last month, a group of 20 Arnona residents petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to block the move. They oppose the added security and planned construction of a wall 10-15 feet high that would block the residents’ view of West Bank hillsides and, on clear days, Jordan. The court rejected the petition May 1.

“The neighborhood has really suffered,” said Daniel Jonas , 36, who grew up in Arnona and was one of the residents who petitioned the court. “I’ll walk in the street and say hi to my dad and get stopped by a big, flashing American (police) car.”

Israel views Trump’s decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as a symbolic triumph. Trump broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy that withheld such recognition until the city’s final status was worked out by Israelis and Palestinians in a peace agreement.

Palestinian diplomat Saeb Erekat called on foreign leaders this week to boycott the embassy opening. He said attending will “encourage flagrant violations of international law and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”

The embassy ceremony will occur on the 70th anniversary of Israel declaring its independence, adding to what could be a tense week for Israelis and Palestinians. A day later, on May 15, Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” commemorating land lost to the establishment of Israel in 1948.

A view of the U.S. Consulate building complex in west Jerusalem on Jan. 23, 2017.(Photo: Jim Hollander, EPA-EFE)

Israeli police braced for demonstrations in Jerusalem as Palestinian leaders expressed their anger before the move. Palestinians seek East Jerusalem, including the walled Old City, as the capital of their future state.

Senior Palestinian official Ahmad Majdalani called for "a huge, popular day of rage everywhere" Monday. "Our people will express their rejection of relocating the embassy to occupied Jerusalem," he told the Palestinian Authority's radio station, Voice of Palestine, this week.

The Israeli army geared up for the culmination of six weeks of demonstrations called the March of Return along the Gaza border. More than 40 Palestinian protesters have been killed by Israeli fire during the protests.

The Arnona compound is between predominantly Jewish West Jerusalem and mostly Palestinian East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in from Jordan in a war in 1967. The annexation of East Jerusalem was never internationally recognized. It sits on the armistice line drawn between Israel and Jordan after the Israeli-Arab war in 1948.

By the end of 2019, the embassy compound will house Ambassador Friedman’s full staff.

Trump said he negotiated the price of the new embassy down from a $1 billion estimate to $300,000-$400,000.

Moussa Mahmed, 35, of East Jerusalem, was one of the workers laying soil and beautifying the grounds around the compound this week, but he expressed bitterness about the embassy move.

“What is the difference between here or in Tel Aviv? America is playing a big game, and we won’t play it,” he said. “Sure, there will be a U.S. Embassy in East Jerusalem, Palestine, one day — once we achieve peace.”